The Amazing Boat Rescue of September 11

Eleven-year-old Thomas Panevino couldn’t believe his eyes. He stared in shock at the New York City skyline. Only a few hours earlier, the city’s two tallest buildings—the Twin Towers—had stretched toward the sky. In their place now was a huge dark cloud, like a monster looming over the city.

It was September 11, 2001. Two planes had crashed into the Towers on purpose, causing them to collapse. Thomas and his dad were on a small police boat heading across the Hudson River toward New Jersey. All around them, dozens of other boats were carrying frightened people away from the scene of the attacks.

Thomas clutched a carrier holding Eddie, the family’s miniature poodle. Suddenly, he heard someone cry out, “The boat is sinking!” Thomas looked at the back of the boat. Sure enough, water was pouring in.

They were only about halfway across the river. Thomas fixed his eyes
on the New Jersey dock ahead. Would they be able to make it?

Eleven-year-old Thomas Panevino stared up in shock. He looked at New York City’s skyline. Only a few hours earlier, New York City’s two tallest buildings had been there. They were called the Twin Towers, and they stretched toward the sky. In their place now was a huge dark cloud, like a monster hanging over the city.

It was September 11, 2001. Two planes had crashed into the towers on purpose. This caused them to crumble. Thomas and his dad were on a small police boat. They were heading across the river toward New Jersey. All around them were dozens of other boats. Each one was carrying scared people away from the scene of the attacks.

Thomas gripped a carrier holding Eddie, the family’s small black dog. Suddenly, he heard someone cry out, “The boat is sinking!” Thomas looked at the back of the boat. Water was pouring in.

They were only about halfway across the river. Would they be able to make it to the New Jersey dock?

Just that morning, Thomas had passed by the Twin Towers on his 10-minute walk to school in lower Manhattan. (Manhattan is a long, thin, island at the heart of New York City.) The buildings were part of a large complex called the World Trade Center. At 110 stories tall, they could be seen for miles around.

That sunny day, Thomas had Spanish class first period. All of a sudden, at 8:46 a.m., a loud vroooooom cut through the air. Thomas and his classmates ran toward the windows. They saw an airplane shoot across the sky and crash into one of the World Trade Center towers. Thick black smoke poured out of a hole in the building.

The class began to evacuate. Thomas saw his dad, Vincent, rushing toward him. Vincent was about to head to work when he heard the explosion. He rushed to the school. Hurrying outside, the two of them tried to call Thomas’s mom, Judi. Every morning before work, Judi would get coffee with friends at a café in the World Trade Center. Had she made it out in time?

But the call wouldn’t go through. Thousands of other people across the city were trying to reach their loved ones. Thomas and his dad decided to head back to their apartment to see if Judi was there.

Meanwhile, 5 miles away on Staten Island, a Coast Guard officer named Carlos Perez was on duty. The Coast Guard is the branch of the U.S. military that helps protect seas, lakes, and rivers. Carlos’s job was to help make sure boats traveled safely through New York City’s busy harbor.

Suddenly, an alarm went off at the station. Carlos stepped outside to find out what had set it off. He saw flames and smoke curling up from the top of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. A plane has crashed into the tower by accident, he thought.

He and his team sped toward lower Manhattan in their boat. Then they noticed that a nearby plane seemed to be flying too low. And it was heading straight toward the World Trade Center.

The team watched as the plane slammed directly into the South Tower. A giant fireball exploded out the side of the building. Now both towers were spitting out thick, dark smoke, like two giant chimneys rising up from the city.

This is no accident, Carlos realized. We’re under attack.

The attacks on the World Trade Center had been carried out by a violent group called Al Qaeda. The group was based in Afghanistan, a country in Asia. It was led by a man named Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden and his followers were terrorists. They used violence to “punish” countries that had views different from theirs. And the United States had become their main target.

On the morning of September 11, Al Qaeda terrorists took control of four airplanes and crashed them on purpose. One hit the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. military, near Washington, D.C. Another crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. But many believe it may have been headed for the White House or the U.S. Capitol. And the other two were flown into the Twin Towers.

When Thomas and his dad arrived at their apartment, there was no sign of Judi. Thomas scooped Eddie into his carrier. Then they stepped back outside and headed further downtown. They had to get away from the smoking towers.

Out on the water, Carlos Perez was trying to shake off his shock. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘OK, what do I do here?’ ” he says. “You don’t train for planes hitting buildings.” That’s when, around 10 a.m., a loud rumbling noise started to fill the air.

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. Floor by floor, the South Tower was falling in on itself. The heat from the fires had melted the building’s steel frame. In just 10 seconds, the building was turned into a pile of rubble.

Dust rose up from the tower’s ruins. It raced through the city and then out onto the water, right toward Carlos’s boat. Soon, it had swallowed up Carlos and his crew. “Everything around me was just white,” Carlos says. Less than half an hour later, the second tower collapsed. Another monstrous wave of dust was released.

When it finally cleared, Carlos could see thousands of panicked people near the water’s edge. They were covered in a thick coating of gray ash; they looked like ghosts floating through a ruined land.

Now, Carlos’s mission was clear: He and his team would evacuate as many people as possible.

Thomas and his dad were among the people gathered at the waterfront. As the towers fell, they had fled toward the southern tip of Manhattan. Everyone wanted to get off the island. Fear rippled through them. Would there be another attack?

Carlos and his team were picking up people as fast as they could. They sped back and forth across the water. Each time, they carried passengers away from the choking smoke. But the crowd of people waiting seemed to grow larger and larger. Carlos began to feel overwhelmed.

Then, he happened to look out over the water. And that’s when he saw the boats. There were dozens of boats, of all shapes and sizes: bright-orange ferries, hardy little tugboats, double-decker party boats, simple rafts. They were all speeding toward the shore to help bring people to safety.

Soon, the harbor front was packed with boats side by side. Carlos helped them dock safely. He made sure they were not too overloaded with people. Still, many of the boats were being packed with passengers. Rescuers wanted to help as many people as possible.

That’s what happened with Thomas’s boat. He and his dad boarded a small police boat that was built for 10 passengers. But it had been crammed with about 30. The little boat began to sink beneath their weight soon after setting off.

Luckily, they made it to the dock in New Jersey just in time. Thomas and his dad waited there for hours. They hoped his mom would get off one of the other boats. But she never did. Finally, they went to stay with a family friend who lived nearby.

The September 11 terrorist attacks shocked and horrified the world. Nearly 3,000 people were killed. More than 400 of them were firefighters and police officers who died trying to save people from the burning towers. Rescuers combed through the ruins, searching for survivors. But fewer than 20 people were found alive.

For Thomas and his dad, the night of September 11 was agonizing. They waited and hoped. And then finally, just after sunrise, Vincent’s cell phone rang. It was Thomas’s mom!

After the first tower was hit, police had led her uptown. She spent the night at her sister’s apartment. Thomas and his dad reunited with her later that day, and she wrapped Thomas in a never-ending hug.

Now 31, Thomas says he will never forget the terror and darkness of September 11. But he will always remember the bravery and kindness of the boat crews. They helped save his family and so many others that day. “The fact that they rushed toward the scene of something that’s so scary, and that they did it without a second thought, it shows who they are,” he says.

In just nine hours, people like Carlos Perez helped rescue nearly half a million people by boat. It was the largest maritime evacuation in history.

“Everyone just sprang into action to help,” Carlos says. “These people put their lives on the line to save fellow New Yorkers. And that was pretty remarkable.”